


Something better left buried

by Irishdarkcrazy



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 22:33:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19877158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Irishdarkcrazy/pseuds/Irishdarkcrazy
Summary: Adora and Catra find themselves facing off against a foe the likes of which had never been seen on Etheria before. Will they be able to overcome this enemy, or will they be overwhelmed and consumed by this new threat.





	Something better left buried

**Author's Note:**

> Right so, this is an idea I'd been toying with for months. I know it just seems to start out of nowhere, but I honestly couldn't think up a good way to begin the damn thing. Hell, it's still really a w.i.p, but I just couldn't think of anything more to do with it at this time. Also yes, the preview for the next season kind of tipped my hand when I saw a certain enemy type making an appearance, it will make sense when the villain of this story is revealed. This story was meant to take place before season two, but yeah missed that deadline so let's just say it falls in somewhere before the end of season two. And now I go to my bunker to hide. Hope you enjoy the story.

Adora and Catra hit the ground hard, bouncing off the initial impact before rolling to a stop, not far from one another. For several minutes they were motionless on the floor until a low groan was heard coming from Catra as she stirred first.

“Who...ever said...cats land on...their feet...is a damn liar” Rolling over despite the pain, She turns to see where Adora landed. Since her eyes adjusted to the darkness quicker than a normal person’s, Catra was able to locate her easily. “H-hey...hey Adora! You...you still with me?”

Silence. That was all the answer she got. They were enemies but still, Catra couldn’t help the feeling of worry that crawled into her chest at the thought that Adora was seriously hurt. So, ignoring her own pain, Catra pushed herself up and crawled over to the motionless girl.

“Adora? Adora you...you better not be dead. Adora? Hey Adora!”

A fit of coughing suddenly burst from the prone girl before being replaced with her own groan of pain. “E-everything hurts” struggling to roll over, Adora managed to make it on to her back and stare up at the hole they’d fallen through. “Just...just let me die in peace for once”

“You...you! I was seriously worried about you!” With anger now flooding her body, Catra was able to ignore the pain and sit up full. “Hell no! I’m not going to let you die like that! If I have to endure the pain, then so do you!”

“S-sorry, Catra” Sitting up herself, Adora looks to Catra and, seeing the visible pain she is trying to hide, doesn’t even stop herself from asking “Are you alright?”

Fur standing on end and a light dusting of pink on her cheeks, Catra looked away from Adora with a huff and tried to wave off her concern. “M-me? I...I’m fine. How many times do I have to tell you, I’m stronger than I look”

Smiling at the all too natural response, Adora leaned back on to her hands and looked back up again.

“How far down do you think we are?” From what she could see, they’d fallen pretty deep into the earth and that was after the first one rune already being deep in a mountain.

“Too far, if communication isn’t working” Catra pocketed the device Entrapa had given her to stay in contact with and looked around. “Well we’re not being assaulted by robots or memories, so at least it’s not one of those places”

Adora knew that the joke was a defence, but she understood well why she made it. The memory of what she saw that day still hurt and she was no closer to figuring out how to make it right. Still, Catra had a point. The rune was different from previous ones, even the writing, which she could normally read, was foreign to her. And yet there was something familiar to it at the same time.

Pain, far surpassing any she’d felt before, raced through Adora’s body and she could not hold back the scream as something struck her in the back. “Adora!” Catra could only watch in horror as sickly purple energy lifted Adora up into the air. If only she could have known that was she was seeing, was only a tiny part of the pain Adora was enduring.

Adora was a passenger within her own mind as some unknown presence shifted through her memories one by one, looking, learning, finding everything it felt was important. It seemed to find a particular interest in any memory involving her transformation. That...that might be her only chance. Fighting through the pain and the revulsion of having her mind invaded, Adora slowly reaches behind her to grab the sword only to find nothing, she’d dropped it when she’d hit the ground. Forcing one eye to open through the pain, Adora spotted it lying not to fair and so she reached out for it. Catra, seeing what she was doing, rushed over, picking up the sword and giving it to Adora. 

“For the honour of Greyskull!”

The light from Adora’s transformation was blinding, forcing Catra to shield her eyes, but not before she caught sight of something hiding in the darkness. Now fully transformed, She-ra was able to break free of the energy and drops back to the floor, falling on to her knees as she was still feeling the effects of the attack.

“...Grey...skull…” Both women felt chills run down their spines when, from the darkness, came a raspy and haunting voice. “Even in this world of Etheria, you get in our way” Something massive moved in the shadows towards them.

“Who the hell are you?!” Catra’s yelled question halts the sound of movement and gives Adora time to get back to her feet. “Some kind of coward who can only hide and attack from the shadows!”

“The prey dares to address us in such a manner?” The voice seemed amused with Catra’s demand and insult as if her bravado was nothing to it. “How interesting. The memories of the spawn of Greyskull show your defiance well”

“Memories?” Now Catra was confused, what did it mean by memories, unless it meant “You...you read her mind?!” Laughter was the answer she received and when she looked to Adora, she saw her look of revulsion. “You bastard! Stop hiding and face us!”

“...Very well, if you insist” What followed could only be described as the sound of a body reconstructing itself. Catra and Adora had seen and heard many a disturbing thing in the Fright Zone, but nothing like the sound of flesh and bone reshaping and adjusting themselves. Yet as the sound grew closer, it began shifting to the simple sound of footsteps on the stone and from the shadows walked a tall man with pale, yellowish skin, long dark hair and copper coloured eyes. He wore strange armoured robes in a style that was unknown to both and around his neck was a ring of teeth hanging from a chain. The man stopped once in the light and began to examine himself, moving his arms and touching his own face in amusement. “How long has it been since I took this form?” For the moment he seemed content to ignore the pair and marvel at his own self. “How long since my banishment to this planet!?”

Despite his human appearance and voice, there was something unsettling about him. The way he moved, the reptilian look in his eyes, and, for a brief moment as he spoke it seemed like he had a forked tongue. Then those eyes shifted over to them, and Adora and Catra felt dread weigh upon them. It only grew more intense as a smile, twisted and false, spread across his face. Never once breaking eye contact with them, he bowed.

“Well then, little feline. This is what you asked for, was it not?” He took a step forward and his smile grew more twisted when Adora moved between himself and Catra. “How cute, your affection for her is most impressive”

“Adora what are you” “We need to do this together” Adora didn’t even wait for Catra’s usual bravado before cutting her off. She knew that this...person was not what he seemed and there was no way they could do this separately. Maybe it was the tone of voice she used or something about her body language but Catra didn’t try to argue with Adora.

“Very clever, servant of Greyskull” Again he walked towards them, now close enough for them to see the vertical slit pupils in his eyes and the scale-like pattern on this skin. “You are correct, however. As you both are now, you are no match for me. So why not save yourself the trouble and just accept death”

Catra growled angrily and for a moment, Adora feared she would attack without her. But, to her surprise, Catra let out a breath and nodded. “Alright, we’ll fight together” Flashing her a fanged smirk, she added, “If you can keep up, that is”

Adora briefly gave her a bright smile before turning back to the man with a look of determination. 

“Are you both prepared?” Neither one of them responded. “Then we can begin”

A heavy kick was planted into Catra’s stomach and she was sent hurtling back several meters. Adora turned to strike but found an elbow driven into her chest, knocking the wind out of her and she too was sent back. Bouncing once off the ground, Adora managed to plant her feet and slide to a stop, only to look up and see the man closing the distance on her. With barely any time, she quickly raised her sword to parry his hit, the force of which pushed her back several feet. He leaned in close and smiled, a sick amusement swam in his eyes as he loomed over her. A movement behind him caught Adora’s attention, Catra had recovered from her hit and was rushing in to attack when the man suddenly, and still holding on to the blade, jumped over Adora. His heel connected with Catra’s chin as he flipped, knocking her away again. Once behind Adora, he pulled her up off her feet and threw her over his head onto the floor. 

He stopped for a brief moment to examine his right arm, flexing his hand and rotating his shoulder as if to loosen it up after the throw. Catra used this as another chance to try and land a hit, only for him to catch her by the wrist and plant his elbow into her face. Letting go, he avoided losing both arms to Adora’s blade. Positioning herself between them, she came at him with a flurry of swipes, putting him on the defensive, yet still, he continued to smirk as if her attempt was pointless. That changed when a swing of the blade sliced off a portion of his robe’s right sleeve. He was so surprised by this, that he stopped to stare down at the damage and Adora saw this as her chance to end the fight. She brought the blade down only for his left hand to shoot up and catch it without effort. He turned to look at her shocked face, replacing his smirk with a more serious look. “Well, it seems I need to be more serious” 

Whatever more he was going to say was cut off by a yell of pain when Catra raked her claws across his back, causing him to let go of the sword. She followed up with a heel kick to the face which sent him stumbling back several feet. “Never turn your back on me” She held up her blood-covered claws and smirked at him “Or you will regret it”

He calmly put his jaw back into place and the wound on his back closed up. Looking at the pair he shrugged his shoulders and threw off the upper portion of his robes. Slowly his veins began to glow, starting from his hands, travelling up the arms and spreading out across his chest. “Let’s change things up then” Magic covered his hands and he began a series of motions before launching a barrage of magical projectiles towards them. Adora and Catra were forced to dive to the sides and roll away to avoid the impact and resulting explosions. Scrambling back to their feet, they watched another volley come sailing toward them and so they made the choice to rush him. Seeing them approach, he shifted stance, bringing his arms up in a defensive pose. Catra was the first to reach him and unleashed a quick strike, to which he responded with by guiding her arm past his face and throwing a punch that also launched a magical blast. Leaning back, Catra narrowly avoided losing her head to the blast, spinning around, she goes in for a claw strike to the back again only to have her face grabbed and a blast of magic go off as she is thrown. Following up from the throw, he fired beams from his fingertips after Catra. The glee at ridding himself of one annoyance was wiped from his face when a very familiar shield intercepted the magic. Turning around, he was met with a fist to the face that dislocated his jaw and nearly twisted his head the entire way around his neck. Left stunned by the punch, he was unable to mount a defence against the ensuing assault and took quite a beating from Adora. It was only after she’d sent him sailing several feet back did he have time to recover. 

“You know, you have a very bad habit of focusing on only one of us at a time. It’s going to get you killed” it was a bluff of course, Adora just needed to buy time for Catra to recover. “Sure you don’t want to give up?”

He stood up slowly, taking his jaw in hand and forcing it back into position with a loud click the mage stared back at Adora. “Your concern for your pet is quite amusing”

Something dark flashed over Adora’s face and her eyes became shadowed by her hair. “Don’t call her that”

“But that’s what she is” He continued on, finding amusement in Adora’s anger. He began to stroll back towards her. “After all, your memories were quite vivid. She followed you around, slept at the foot of your bed and was loyal only to you until you broke that loyalty of course” He leaned down so that he was right next to her ear as he spoke “And that, my dear, is a pet”

“I’ll fucking kill you!” Holding her hand out in anger, Adora wills the sword to return and once in her hand, she swings wildly at the sorcerer yet he dodged them with the ease of a master, even going so far as to guide several of the swings past himself. “Temper, Temper. What would your friends think of you using such language?” if anything thing, Adora’s death stare only amused him further. Raising a hand up in her direction he prepared another magic attack “Shall I tell them you died bravely?”

“I won’t let you anywhere near them!” He chuckled at her attempts to attack him “As if you are in any position to stop me. Goodbye, Adora”

Just as the magic left his hand, a shadow descended upon him and in a splash of blood, Catra raked her claws across his face. The magic missed Adora, sailing past her and exploding against a wall but she paid it no mind. “What took you so long?”

“Well I had to make a good entrance” holding one arm over her ribs, Catra flicked the blood of her claws and smirked at the sorcerer as he writhed in pain “Not so tough are you, asshole!”

“Catra” Whatever else Adora wanted to say was cut off by a wave of magic that sent them unexpectedly back and crashing hard into the wall. The hit left them dizzy and sore, but still conscious. They heard their opponent give out a roar filled with rage and pain, and when they looked back at him, they saw his body was covered in magic. He had a hand covering his face and blood was flowing between the fingers, but one eye was visible, glaring out at them.

“NO MORE! I AM DONE PLAYING WITH YOU!” He tore his hand away from his face and, much to Adora and Catra’s disgust, a large portion of skin went with it “We will devour you both!”

The two watched in morbid fascination and shock as his body writhed and twisted as if something was trying to burst out from within. Standing up as quickly as their own bodies would allow, the two prepared for whatever was about to happen, only they were not ready for his body to suddenly swell in size before being shredded as something massive finally broke free.

“Be honoured” The echoing tone of multiple hissing voices bounced around the cavernous room. “Only those whom we find truly worthy ever see this form” Towering above them was a monstrous serpent with five heads. The body was a dark, almost black, green with a sprinkling of gold in the scales. Of the five heads, the central one was the largest, with a crown of horns on top. Each of the heads had mouths filled with large teeth and fangs that dripped with venom that melted the stone on contact. “It seems we have gone this whole time without a proper introduction. So allow us to correct that. Now you both shall bare witness to the might of King Hiss”

The five heads lunged forward, mouths open wide, to crush or consume the pair, forcing Catra and Adora to separate. Seeing them split off, the four smaller serpents pull free from the main body, forming their own ones and continuing the hunt, all while the central head watched and taunted.

“This! This is how it should be, how it always should have been. The pray flees in the presence of the predator” Hiss coiled his massive body up in the centre of the room and rose up to tower overall. “If not for the efforts of Greyskull and the wretched first ones, all of Eternia would have been mine!”

Catra dodged over the bite of one snake and narrowly avoided the follow-up attack from the second one. The two serpents coiled around one another and launched more tandem attacks, forcing Catra on the defensive and leaving very little room for offence. When she managed to get in between them during another double bite attempt, Catra lashed out with claws, only for them to bounce off the armoured scales. “Oh come the fuck on”

“What’s the matter, little cat” one of the heads spoke as they coiled around her. “Does being weak upset you? Anger you?”

“Shut up! You don’t know anything about me” Again Catra lashed out and again her claws did nothing to them.

“Oh but we do” The second head spoke this time “You thirst for power and recognition. To prove yourself better than the child of Greyskull, yet you also yearn for her love and attention the most”

“Raaaagh!” Blinded by rage, once more Catra lashed out, only this time her claws caught one of the tongues as it flicked out. Blood splashed the floor followed by the tongue. She took satisfaction on the roar of pain the snake released. “Well, looks like you aren’t so tough”

“We will devour you!!!” Blood sprayed out with each word before the two attacked once more.

Adora managed to smack aside one of the heads before bringing up her shield to block the second one. The force of which rocked her body and Adora felt as if her arms were nearly broken.

“Your power is impressive” The one she’d knocked aside spoke as it rose up above the one Adora was holding off. “Why do you waste it?”

“What...are you...talking about?” She could feel her body reaching its limit for She-Ra power usage, but she could not give up yet and she definitely didn’t need some oversized bag whispering poisoned words. “I’ve been...using it to...help save...Etheria”

“Why save it when you could rule it. With your abilities, there would be none who could stop you”

“I would never do that!” Adora shoved the head away and glared up at the other one. But that was a mistake.

“Oh but you could” When their eyes met, Hiss’ began to glow and Adora found herself pulled into a vision of what could be.

She saw herself at first, mature and able to wield the power of She-ra without transforming. Then the other her was moving, cutting down Horde and Rebellion soldiers without mercy. Adora could only watch as force captains and the princesses fell before her power until all that remained was Queen Angella and Hordak.

The idea of being that strong, that powerful. It awoke something in Adora and yet something was very wrong, that’s what her mind kept telling her as she watched the other her dispatch the two strongest beings on Etheria with relative ease. Something was wrong.

“You could rule unopposed” Adora alter sat on the throne of Brightmoon, watching as the residents bowed down before her. “Your precious pet would be all yours”

An altered version of Catra appeared by the throne and Adora’s face burned at what she was wearing, or rather the lack of. 

“Hey, Adora” Instead of the usual mocking tone, the purr in Catra’s voice stirred something inside of Adora. It stirred, even more, when Catra draped herself over the other Adora.

“Isn’t this what you want?” Hiss whispered into her ear, again in his human form, but Adora was too transfixed on the sight to notice. “Just give in and it will all be yours. You could even have that other prize you desire”

An alternate Glimmer appeared next to the throne as well. 

Wrong. 

She wasn’t a monster.

Wrong.

She wouldn’t hurt her friends.

Wrong. 

She wanted to help the world, not rule it.

Wrong.

Catra would never be submissive to her.

Wrong.

Glimmer would never support that monster.

Wrong.

The three of them could never...would never.

“NO!!!” Adora threw off the illusion and drove her fist into the nose of Hiss, knocking him back into his other-self. “I will not fall for your tricks!”

Recovering from the collision, the two snakes rose up. “Then die!” They roared at her and lunged, mouths open wide. Hiss’ jaws snapped shut on nothing however, Adora had dodged out of their path. “Insolent child! You dare reject my mercy?”

“That was no mercy! That was an insulting fake!” A fire burned in her eyes as she glared at the monster “And I will kill you for it”

Both snakes twisted around to face Adora. “You will regret not giving in”

Standing firm with the sword at the ready. Adora looked at them both with renewed energy. “Bring it!”

When the pair rushed towards her, Adora made the surprising move to go towards them. Dropping to her knees, she slid in between and under the two, causing them to narrowly avoid impacting each other. With her opening, she swung the sword, only for it to glance off the scales in a shower of sparks.

Her sword was not going to cut it in this battle it seems. She just could not get through those scales. Looking around for any sort of advantage, Adora spots Catra coming towards her with the other two snakes rampaging after her. Catching her eye, she motions back to the pair behind her and then back to the ones after Catra. A brief nod is all Adora needs to know she has her support. 

A partially collapsed section of the ceiling is close by, seeing it, a plan formed quickly and Adora moved towards it, with Catra not far behind. They could hear the four snakes closing in behind them and smirked, knowing they had them.

The ceiling was being held up by a few pillars and nothing else. When they reached the centre, they each rolled to the side, allowing the snakes to rush past them and slam into one of the pillars. Two of the snakes recovered quicker and resumed their chase of the pair. 

Adora shifted her sword into its shield form and used it as a ram against the snake, knocking it away and into another pillar.

Catra positioned herself in front of another pillar and, at the last moment, jumped over the snake and watched it crash through the stone support.

“Tell me something,” Adora asks, shifting her sword back to normal and regrouping with Catra at a safe distance. “Are the five of you connected?”

“And why would or should we tell you that?” The response came from the right, but they both kept all the snakes in vision.

Catra smirked and motioned towards Adora as she answered them “Because we wanted to know if you would all feel this!”

With a mighty roar, Adora swung her sword and cleaved through the final pillar. The rubble shifted and the snakes only had a second to look up before they were buried under the rubble.

“*huff * one...left” 

Catra looks at Adora with suspicion. “Hey, what was that back there? It seemed like you froze in the middle of combat”

Adora’s face turned red as memories of the vision crept forward. Especially memories of the one next to her. “That...that was nothing. Just him trying to play tricks with me. Nothing to worry about”

“Alright. If you’re sure” Catra wasn’t fully convinced, but she chose to let it go for now. “Let’s go finish this and get the hell out of here”

Hiss watched as the pair walked towards him. So they’d managed to defeat his lesser selves, no matter, he could still sense they were alive. “Do you feel proud? Do you think you have won?” His massive body slithered forward until he was towering over them. 

“We beat those four. It’s two against one now you overgrown worm!” Catra glared up at Hiss with her usual defiance. Which turned into a smirk when Adora followed up with “Catra is right, Hiss. We will defeat you once and for all”

A twisted laugh burst from the massive snake “Oh how naive you are” Behind the pair, the rubble that acted as the temporary grave for the four snakes burst open and they slithered out to rejoin their main self. 

Taking a moment to adjust to the influx of memories, Hiss weighed his options. He could see that the pair were tiring and, with the return of all his heads, their bravado was failing. “You both must realize this is a wasted effort” Once more speaking in multiple voices, Hiss gazed down at them. Expecting some kind of trick, Catra and Adora prepared themselves for whatever was next “You are both growing weaker, you bodies slowly exhausting themselves, while I grow stronger, returning to the power I held before my imprisonment”

“A prison...this is a prison” Adora wondered why that hadn’t become clear to them before. If this was a prison then that meant.

Catra seemed to catch on to the same realization as Adora and the two shared a quick glance to one another.

“Of course it is. That was a common why for the first ones to deal with a problem without having to dirty their hands” Hiss didn’t seem to catch what they were doing, too caught up in the memories of his defeat. “I was but one of many that they chose to hideaway. But enough talk” 

All five heads moved into a star-like formation, the four smaller ones opening their jaws and channelling magic. “Time to die” Hiss’ main head copied the actions of the others, opening its jaws and channelling magic. Each head created a ball of magic in their mouths. From these formed a massive magical circle that began to glow and rotate as the energy from all five heads was collected in the centre of the circle.

Time slowed for Adora, as the magical attack grew in strength, she knew they wouldn’t be able to dodge. They needed to find something to help against Hiss and they both couldn’t do that with him about to attack. With no warning, Adora grabbed Catra’s shoulder and threw her back.

Taken completely by surprise, Catra only had a few seconds to register the determined, but sad, smile on Adora’s face before she turned to face the monster with her shield at full power and the aura of She-ra at its maximum.

“Adora! Adora No!” “DIE!!!” Red light filled the cavern when Hiss released the built-up magic. Black and red lighting came screaming out of the circle towards Adora. Catra was forced to shield her eyes from the blinding light that resulted from the impact between protection and destruction.

Pain unlike anything she had ever experienced filled Adora’s body, But she continued to pour everything she had into keeping the shield up. Unfortunately, Hiss had been right, she was running on fumes, to the point that keeping the She-ra form going was adding to the pain, but she couldn’t stop, doing so meant death.

“C-catra!” Yelling out over the screech of the magic, Adora only hoped Catra was close enough to hear her. “T-there has to...be something...in here to...help against...him...find it...quick...I’m losing...ground here!”

What sounded like the scraping of claws briefly reached her and Adora figured that meant Catra had heard her. Now she just had to hold out for long enough.

“Gotta find something, anything!” Those were the thoughts racing through Catra’s mind as she ran around, her natural enhanced night vision allowing her to search the darker areas. “This is a prison. So there must be a...” An off-colour panel on the wall caught her attention. Rushing over and, throwing caution to the wind, she pressed the panel. After a second, the wall beside it slid open. “Bingo!”

Grabbing the item, Catra turned back to help Adora, all the while she couldn’t help but think to herself “How do you even use this” 

Another blast of magic slammed into the shield, intensifying the force Adora was already dealing with, but she needed to hold on. Catra would be back soon, then, then she could rest. Even as she was being pushed back, all Adora could focus on was how heavy her eyelids felt. “Going to...need a long...nap after...this”

A movement to the side caught her attention and she turned her head in time to see Catra fire something towards Hiss. They both watched as a bright light streaked through the air towards the central head. Where, upon impact, it exploded.

The result was instantaneous. The magical circle shattered, sending bolts of magic in all directions. Hiss reared back in agony, blood falling to the floor in torrents. “Again with the eye!” He whipped his head towards Catra “You! You will pay for this!” lunging forward in a blind rage, he ended up taking another blast to the face.

Seeing a chance, Catra rushed over to Adora and helped her stand “Come on, get up! We need to go!”

Hiss’ tail came out of the smoke created by the explosion and forced the pair to hit the ground to avoid being crushed. Instead, the tail shattered one of the remaining pillars holding up the ceiling, causing the entire room to shake.

“This place shall be your tomb!” With hatred burning in his remaining eye, Hiss opened his mouth and prepared to fire another blast of magic.

“You first!” despite her body’s protests, Catra scrambled to her feet and fired the weapon directly into Hiss’ mouth.

The shot destabilized the magic, Hiss had no time to cancel the attack. The magic continued to build, quickly overtaking Hiss and spreading in all directions. Catra felt herself being grabbed by the scruff of her neck and pulled behind a downed pillar by Adora.

What followed was a titanic explosion. It took several minutes before things calmed down enough for the two to leave their hiding spot. Small chunks of debris fell down from the ceiling and a large amount of dust filled the area, but enough had cleared away to all them to see the damage.

Hiss’ colossal body lay in a twisted heap, his skin badly scourged and bleeding. The four smaller heads were lying motionless around the bleeding stump where the central head once was.

“I fucking told you!” Catra’s exclamation cut through the silence and she proudly pointed towards the body. “I told you we would fucking kill you”

Adora wasn’t feeling up to celebrating. Her body was well past its limit and she returned to her normal form. “It’s over” to her surprise, Catra catches her and helps her stand up.

“Don’t go quitting on me yet, Adora. We still need to get out of here”

Face once more burning, Adora tried her very best not to look Catra in the eyes. “R-right. Any...any ideas?”

Before Catra could respond, they heard the sound of movement coming from the body and to their horror, the four smaller heads slowly rose up.

“No fucking way?” Adora had already lifted her sword back up and Catra had her claws out and ready to attack.

“Y-you think...you’ve won?” “This...is...only...a...setback” “We...will...regenerate” “And...when we...do...your deaths...shall be slow...and painful”

A large chunk of ceiling crashed down near them all, drawing all their attentions to the quickly crumbling rock above them.

“Ha...ha..ha...hahaha” “It seems...you don’t need...to wait” “We...shall...all die...together” “Entombed...for all...eternity” “Goodbye Adora and Cat...who the hell are you?”

The four heads were confused by the arrival of Glimmer. She glared up at the monster and placed her hands on Adora and Catra’s shoulders.

“Glimmer?” “Sparkles?”

Without a word, the three vanished in a bright flash of purple light. Hiss’ roared out in anger as the cavern finally gave in and came crashing down upon him. Burying the king of the snakemen and entombing him once more.

Bow, Entrapta and Scorpia were waiting outside the temple when Glimmer reappeared with the two in hand. The fun-sized princess dropped to her knees, not used to teleporting that far with other people. 

“Adora!” “Catra!” 

The three onlookers were quick to rush over and help with their two injured friends. 

“G-get off! I’m fine dammit” Catra tried to brush off Scorpia’s help but she was too weak to really do anything. “Adora needs it more than me”

Entrapta seems to understand this and goes to help Bow with Adora. Pulling down her goggles, she performed a quick scan of her body. “Multiple broken ribs, damage to the bones and muscles in her arms, magic burns and a concussion” Turning her head, Entrapta scanned over Catra as well “You also possess some broken ribs, burns and your right hand is badly damaged. What happened to you guys down there?”

“That place was a prison for an old enemy of the First ones. The bastard wanted to eat us so we had to put him down” Catra winced when Scorpia brushed against one of her tender ribs. “Ow, watch the claws!”

“We need to get Adora back to Brightmoon. I can’t treat her here” Bow was trying to do his best with what he had on hand, but field medic skills would only do so much in this situation. “Glimmer, help me get her on to Swift Wind”

“We’d offer you guys a ride but” Scorpia looked sheepishly at their Horde transport.

“Yeah, the defences at Brightmoon would shoot first, ask questions second. Thanks for the offer though”

“Wait!” Catra pulled herself out of Scorpia’s hold and moved over to face Glimmer. “Why did you help me? You could've left me to die down there and only taken Adora. So why?”

“Adora wouldn’t have been happy if I did leave you behind” Glimmer didn’t turn around to give her response, she just continued to help Bow with Adora. “That’s all you need to know”

Catra’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Bullshit! I don’t believe that for a second”

Glimmer shrugged and got on Swift Wind behind Adora to keep her stable. “Believe what you want. Let’s go, Bow”

“R-right” Bow wasn’t quite sure what just went on between the two, but it didn’t matter to him right now. “Well...um. It was nice seeing you guys again. Hope it all works out for you”

“Bye!” Entrapta waved them off with enthusiasm. “I hope they get Adora back in time. I’d miss her if she didn’t make it”

“Tch” Catra scowled and got on the transport “Let’s just go, we need to report a failed mission”

“Oh Hordak isn’t going to be happy”

“When is he ever?”


End file.
